Infiniti by Nissan to boost UK auto industry

Infiniti, a premium model of Nissan cars, will be manufactured in the UK beginning 2015. Nissan announced the Sunderland facility will host production of the well-respected and high-performance brand. This came as great news signifying Nissan will boost the UK car manufacturing industry with positive consequences for the sector and the economy in general.

Implications for the UK automotive industry

Performance in the UK

Nissan has been doing well in the UK with Qashqai, Qashqai+2 and Juke racking up healthy sales in the past years. A huge portion of purchases are from companies which use these cars for their fleet of business vehicles. The good news is, 89% of total sales consists of British-made cars demonstrating the popularity of vehicles made in the UK. Impressive figures are seen with sales increasing steadily in the last year. The trust of consumers for British-built cars is obvious and this is a good sign for the ailing car industry. Even Nissan Leaf which is currently manufactured in Japan is expected to be built in the UK soon. It is also another popular model in the Nissan range of cars.

Nissan move to boost UK auto industry

The deal which will involve producing the Infiniti brand in the UK will bring an investment of roughly £250m for the Sunderland facility. Around 1,000 jobs are expected to be created, of which 280 will be at Sunderland. Annual production will be at 60,000 units of Infiniti.

This exciting announcement shows that Nissan itself has great confidence in the UK automotive industry to carry out production of its premium fleet of cars for the European market. In fact, UK had to compete with Spain and France for this contract to make the Infiniti brand.

A stimulus to the industry

Clearly, this move by Nissan will boost the UK auto sector, a well-deserved opportunity. Car production at projected volume and scale has not occurred on British soil in 23 years. Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) chief executive Paul Everitt has this to say: “The UK is a globally competitive base for automotive production with its highly-skilled, flexible workforce and advanced productivity levels. UK facilities are producing luxury, premium and volume vehicles, which are winning business in markets around the world.”